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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28070550">Bonding Time</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/beeayy/pseuds/beeayy'>beeayy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff and Humor, Gen, Hijinks &amp; Shenanigans, Leo Manfred Redemption, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Skiing, Swearing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:28:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,254</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28070550</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/beeayy/pseuds/beeayy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Leo invites Markus to go skiing with him, and Markus learns something new about his human brother.</p><p>for the #NEraWinter2020 Prompt for Dec 14: Skating/Skiing | Confession.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Leo Manfred &amp; Markus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>New ERA Discord: Festival of Prompts</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Bonding Time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>**UPDATE: Thank you SO MUCH to <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovableKillerWhale/pseuds/LovableKillerWhale">LoveableKillerWhale</a> (AKA <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/orcaplayer">OrcaPlayer</a>) for the incredible art (can you get enough of those skis, I sure can't, I want them and I don't even ski)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Markus took a deep breath and let it out through his mouth. Too bad android breath couldn’t make steam in the cold. “Don’t you just love that mountain air?” he said with a sigh.</p><p>“Sure. Great. Fantastic.”</p><p>Markus dragged his gaze away from the scenery and glanced over at Leo, where he sat hunched in the other seat of the chairlift. His brother’s former addiction left him sensitive to the cold, so he was wearing the puffiest jacket devised by science, with a fur ruff around the hood that hid most of his face. He was gazing out at the picturesque trees and powdery snow with deep suspicion.</p><p>“What’s wrong?” Markus asked. “You…said we don’t spend enough time together.” He cleared his busy Deviant Leader schedule for this. Not that spending time with his human brother was a chore exactly, just that, well, Leo didn’t go out much. When he mentioned he was on a ski team in high school Markus jumped at the chance to fulfill Leo’s wish..</p><p>Leo just hunched further. “The snow doesn’t look good for skiing.”</p><p>“Doesn’t look that way to me,” Markus said, watching skiiers zip by below them. They floated down the mountain like stones skipping across the surface of a lake. Maybe that was bad? “I guess you know more than I do,” he conceded. Markus had downloaded every single piece of information on skiing for this, including history, techniques, and even a few tricks in anticipation. He never got to do anything like this. Not for fun, anyway. He felt a wonderful building thrill in his hydraulics, the same kind he felt when he jumped off that bridge into Jericho, and climbed Stratford Tower, and...</p><p>“Yeah yeah. You’re an adrenaline junkie—you think I could have gotten you to sit around in your pajamas watching a TV marathon with me?”</p><p>“I don’t own pajamas, so no on that, unless you let me borrow some?”</p><p>“Ugh! No! You’ll stretch them all out of shape.” He turned to glare at the twinkling snow like he had a personal grudge against it.</p><p> He grinned, and gave Leo a little nudge as if to push him off the lift. His brother overreacted and set the chair swinging.</p><p>“Not funny!” he growled as Markus laughed.</p><p>“What? You’re acting like you’ve never been in one of these before.”</p><p>Leo crossed his arms. “My stomach hurts.”</p><p>Markus did a quick scan. “You’re fine. Elevated heart rate. Maybe you should have worn a less bulky coat.”</p><p>They were gliding up to the drop-off zone. Markus watched eagerly as skiers hopped off the chairlift and catapulted themselves down the mountain.  </p><p>“I’m just saying,” Leo said. “I’m just saying—if you don’t want to ski with an expert like me, you can chicken out. You don’t have to wear pajamas for a TV marathon. I mean, if you’re scared enough to pretend to push me off the lift just to distract me—”</p><p>“I’m not scared.” But uncertainty twisted Markus’s circuits. Sure, they were brothers but they were still defining what exactly that meant and, well, yes, Markus wanted more memories of he and Leo doing things together for his database, but— “I’m sorry I teased you. I really want to try this, promise. Especially since it’s something you like so much.”</p><p>“Yeah—well—it feels like I’m forcing you to go, so—”</p><p>“You’re not! Really!” Markus tried a smile. “Adrenaline junkie, right?” Markus took Leo by the shoulder. “This is gonna be great.”</p><p>“Ugh, you big sap!”</p><p>Leo gave him a playful shove, and then they were next in line to hop off. The mountain spread out below them, the sky a cloudless blue sheet. Markus felt his thirium pump do a backflip and he edged to the end of his seat.</p><p>Leo stayed where he was as if glued.</p><p>“Get ready,” Markus told him, “It’s our turn—”</p><p>“Uh—” Leo looked as pale as the snow. “Confession.” He scrunched his eyes shut. “I’ve never been skiing.”</p><p>Markus blinked, already halfway off the chair as the attendant told them to hop off. “What?”</p><p>“I can’t ski! I don’t know how! I lied, okay?—”</p><p>“Jump off!” the attendant yelled as Leo got precariously close to the point of no return, where a drop into a safety net awaited him if he didn’t jump in time—Markus saw it all in his preconstruction, and knew that such an ignominious end would spell disaster for Leo’s ego.</p><p>So he constructed another path.</p><p>He hopped off the chair just in time to avoid the net himself, then used his android strength to yank the chair to the side. Leo yelped and dropped. Markus narrowly avoided getting one of Leo’s skis lodged in his neck before he caught Leo and steadied him.</p><p>“Crap!” Leo said, flailing to grab Markus by the neck. “Ohgodohgod we’re falling—”</p><p>“No we’re not, we’re skiing,” Markus said. He ignored the irate attendant as they drifted slowly toward their choice of slopes. “I don’t understand—why would you say you were on the ski team if you didn’t know how to ski?”</p><p>“Dummy,” Leo said, his legs going every which way like a baby deer. “You think I would have been able to get you to hang out with me just for a TV marathon?”</p><p>Markus blinked. “You—did this just for me?”</p><p>“Of course I did this just for you!” Leo squeaked. “I wanna bond with my brother as much as the next guy…”</p><p>“Leo, I’m—I’m touched. Next time we’ll do a movie marathon, okay?”</p><p>“Yeah yeah. Let’s just get out of here, huh?”</p><p>“...Well, it might be too late for that,” Markus said as the signs for the various trails came into view. That trail marked with a black diamond looked interesting…</p><p>“Seriously, I can’t ski!” Leo yelped. “I can’t do this!”</p><p>“Do you know how to stop?”</p><p>“No!”</p><p>“Well, then I think we’re skiing. I’d cause more risk trying to drag us back up at this point, to you and other skiers.”</p><p>He gave Leo’s hand a tug, which Leo was powerless to resist, and watched his brother’s eyes widen. “Oh no, no no no!”</p><p>“We have to get down one way or another. This is technically the fastest,” Markus said, “And it’s not like I’m ever getting you out here again…”</p><p>“No way! I’ll belly flop! They’re gonna have to airlift me out!”</p><p>“They’re not going to airlift you out.” Markus shrugged, dragging Leo after him. “You don’t have health insurance.”</p><p>“MARKUS, IF I DIE I’M GONNA HAUNT YOUR PLASTIC ANDROID ASS--!”</p><p>*</p><p>A while later, too short in Markus’s opinion, they were gliding to the bottom of the slope. They made the trip safely, of course—Markus downloaded enough information about skiing to outfox an avalanche, and the slope wasn’t very difficult for an android even without a ski program.</p><p>Leo’s expression had returned to the one he had on the chairlift, though his annoyance was now probably due to being held in Markus’s arms.</p><p>“That wasn’t so bad,” Markus told him. “Right?”</p><p>“Yeah, fine,” Leo snapped. “I guess.”</p><p>“I mean—what a rush!” Markus grinned. “And the view! That was a lot of fun. Thank you for bringing me here.”</p><p>“Yeah. Uh.” Leo squirmed a little, his cheeks going pink from more than the cold. “You're welcome.”</p><p>They were silent for a beat.</p><p>“Although,” Markus added, “when you said you wanted bonding time I didn’t think it’d involve <em>actual </em>bonding—”</p><p>“Just put me the fuck down, Markus.”</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/orcaplayer/art/Bonding-Time-864623042">Bonding Time by OrcaPlayer</a>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you to the #NEra mods for organizing this event! Comments appreciated!</p><p>Also, thank you to starkeravingmadgirl for this amazing Markus &amp; Leo giftback <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CJeHmGspRIa/?igshid=tnt0rrk75vkv">art</a>!!! Check out their art!!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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